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Doug Ellis: Garde chased me to my car to get my Aston Villa views

29th March, 2016, 7:37 PM

By Coral Barry

Doug Ellis has revealed that Aston Villa manager Remi Garde chased him to his car in a bid to get his views on the Midlands club’s disastrous season.

Villa are rock bottom of the Premier League and staring the Championship in the face and Football Insider revealed that Garde’s head is expected to roll after just two league wins since he took over in November.

Ellis was the chairman of Villa in two separate spells spanning over 30 years and sold the club to Randy Lerner in 2006.

The 92-year-old now holds the title of ‘president emeritus’ and has revealed his conversation with the under-fire Garde after a recent match.

“Remi Garde made a point, while I was walking away from one game, of following me to my car,” said Ellis speaking to the Birmingham Mail. “He asked me ‘What’s your opinion?’

“I told him I’d made a promise not to interfere and if I answered his question it would appear I was interfering. He accepted that. There was nothing I could say or do to help him.

“However, we have to look at next year and the Championship and be prepared, more likely with a new manager.”

Garde is expected to leave his Villa post once an agreement can be reached over his compensation package.

On guard: Villa manager Garde has refused to budge over pay-off

Garde still has three years to run on a contract he signed when he took over from the sacked Tim Sherwood and has refused to resign so as not violate the terms and conditions of his deal.

Villa have just 16 points after 31 league games and are currently 12 points from safety with seven matches left to play.

The club have drawn up a shortlist of candidates to replace Garde with Nigel Pearson and David Moyes said to be among the frontrunners.

Head of recruitment Paddy Riley is also expected to be dismissed as Villa continue the cleaning-out process that has already claimed the heads of chief executive Tom Fox and sporting director Hendrik Almstadt.